Automatic shutoff valve

ABSTRACT

An automatic valve mechanism controls water flow into a toilet water closet or other environment in which liquid level control is desired. The valve mechanism responds to air pressure created under a diaphragm by a rising water level to shut off water flow into a water closet to attain a desired water level. The valve mechanism also responds to a decrease in air pressure under the diaphragm caused by a receding water level to allow water flow into the water closet to start again.

United States Patent 1,147,639 7/1915 Nolan lnventor Samuel Abbott GlenFalls, N.Y. Appl. No. 806,816 Filed Mar. 13, 1969 Patented July 27, 1971Assignee' Venavco, lnc.

Glen Falls, N.Y.

AUTOMATIC SHUTOFF VALVE 9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

05. CL 137/403 Int. Cl 605d 9/02 Field of Search 137/386, 403, 406, 412,413, 414, 429, 430, 432, 433

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,589,786 6/1926 Bradshaw 137/4132,744,536 5/1956 Buckner 137/413 3,285,277 11/1966 Goldtrap.. 137/4143,344,804 10/1967 Lyman 137/406 Primary Examiner-M. Cary NelsonAssistant ExaminerDavid R. Matthews Attorney-Blair, Cesari and St. OngeABSTRACT: An automatic valve mechanism controls water flow into a toiletwater closet or other environment in which liquid level control isdesired. The valve mechanism responds to air pressure created under adiaphragm by a rising water level to shut off water flow into a watercloset to attain a desired water level. The valve mechanism alsoresponds to a decrease in air pressure under the diaphragm caused by areceding water level to allow water flow into the water closet to startagain.

PATENTED JUL2 7 l9?! SHEET 1 OF 3 FIG.

a r r 1 r 1 I I 1 1 I I INVENTOR. SAMUEL ABBOTT 'PATENTEDJULNIHH SHEET 2BF 3 3, 595.261

T .F e a INVENTOR.

SAMUEL ABBOTT ATTCR N EYS AUTOMATIC snu'rorr VALVE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION provided which stores water to be used when the toilet isflushed. A certain specific water level in a water closet is desirableand this water level must be reestablished after the toilet is flushedand the water closet is drained. Normally a water closet is in fluidcommunication with the water main in a residence so that water wouldcontinually flow into the water closet but for some valving mechanism.Therefore, the problem that presents itself is'relative'ly simple innature, that is, a valve must be provided which automatically allowswater to flow into a water closetwhen the level therein recedes below agiven level and which automatically shuts off the water flow when thedesired water level therein is reached.

2. Prior Art The prior art devices for maintaining a desired water levelin a water closet are generally float operated. In addition, thesefloat-operated devices of the prior art are normally composed -of brassor copper because the valving mechanism operates at least some of thetime in water and ferrous metals are prone to rust. The nature of afloat-operated device, such as the typical ball cock valve, is that thefloat follows the water level and gradually closes off the valve as thewater approaches the desired level. Because of the noise problemassociated with water flowing into a water closet, the water inflow isnormally arranged to take place rather rapidly. However, as the valvethat is operated by a float approaches its seat, the water flow isgradually diminished or tapered off and an offensive noise isnevertheless generated.

In addition, another problem presents itselfin utilizing brass or coppervalve assemblies of the prior art in that the valve assembly issometimes under water and sometimes out of the water. The result of thisintermittent exposure to the at-' mosphere of the valve mechanism isthat corrosion develops in a relatively short period of time. Thiscorrosion is of two types: one type is a general corroding action thatis associated with copper or brass when it is used with water, and theother type of corrosion takes place because of electrolytic reactionwith impurities in the water that is generally manifested on parts thatare intermittently submerged. The prior art does not teach a very quickacting automatic water shutoff for water closets that does not haveoffensive noise associated therewith and which is not subject tocorrosion.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the presentinvention to provide an improved, low cost, liquid level control valve.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedautomatic shutoff valve for use in maintaining a desired water level ina water closet.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improvedautomatic shutoff valve which is highly resistant to corrosion. u

It is still another object of the present invention to provide animproved automatic shutoff valve which is very quick and positive inoperation.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improvedautomatic shutoff valve which dispenses with the need for a conventionalfloat.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction,combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth, and the scope ofthe invention will be indicated in the claims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, my valve includes a chamber into whichthe water rising in the water closet enters. The chamber is open at thebottom to admit the rising water and closed at the top to cause air tobe compressed above the water. The top closure of the chamber includes adiaphragm which deflects between two extreme positions in response to apredetermined pressure. Deflection of the diaphragm to its upwardextreme moves a pilot valve to close off flow to one portion of the mainvalve. When this occurs, the main valve very quickly shifts to a closedposition shutting off further water flow. With this construction, all ofthe metallic linkage normally associated with float-operated ball cockor check valves is eliminated. Also, the piston and seat in my valve arecontained in an area that is constantly submerged in water. This has theadvantage that any noise of the moving valve parts is deadened by thewater and their tendency to corrode diminishes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS illustrating its DESCRIPTION OF THEPREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, an automatic shutoff valve,generally designated by numeral 10, is supported in a water closet 12 bythe pipe 14. The water 11 in the water closet l2 empties into the toiletbowl when flushing is initiated through the drain 16 that is normallyclosed by the valve 18. The valve 18 is pulled from its seat on the endof the drain 16 by rotation of a conventional flushing handle 20 thatacts through an extension arm 21 and chain 24 to cause an upwardpivoting of valve 18 around pivot 22.

When the water closet is full, my valve is in the closed position asillustrated in FIG. 2. Here it is seen that a threaded adapter 26 issecured to the end of pipe 14, The main valve body 28 is screwed ontothe adapter 26. The valve body 28 has a central passage 30 formedtherein in which a valve member 32 is slidable. The valve member orpiston 32 has an upper portion 34 slidable on the inside walls ofpassage 30 and a tapered valve surface 36 adapted to engage a seat 38 onbody 28. The valve member 32 has a centrally disposed passage 40.

A circular plug 42 is fitted into one end of the passage 40 and providesa valve seat for a pilot valve 44.

The pilot valve 44 is carried on one end of an elongated member 46 withthe other end of the member 46 being carried by a diaphragm 48. Thediaphragm 48 is the upper wall of a chamber 50 formed within acup-shaped member 52. Apertures 54 and 56 are formed in a bottom wall ofthe cup-shaped member 52 and provide a path for fluid communicationbetween the inside of the water closet I2 and the chamber 50. Therefore,the chamber 50 has the same water level therein as the water closet whenthe water closet is nearly filled.

As pointed out above, my valve mechanism functions when the toilet isflushed. Referring again to FIG. 1, flushing is initiated as the handle20 is rotated about an axis 58 which causes the arm 21 to move in acounterclockwise fashion about the axis 58. This pulls the chain 24upwardly and rotates the valve 18 around the pivot 22 opening the end ofthe drain 16. The water within water closet 12 then rushes out throughdrain 16 thereby flushing the toilet.

As the water rushes out of the water closet 12, the water level withinchamber 50 recedes until the pressure of the trapped air in the chamber50 above the water is relieved. With this pressure relieved, thediaphragm 48 snaps into the position shown in FIG. 3 which is its freeposition. It will be noted that as the diaphragm 48 moves downward, theelongated member 46 moves with it, due to the frictional engagement ofthe nipple 51 with the member 46, thus causing the pilot valve 44 to gooff its seat. When this occurs, the water pressure in the adapter end ofpassage 30 causes the water to flow through pilot valve 44 and into thepassage 40. This provides a pressure on the back side 62 of valve member32. Because of the area differential between the front and back side ofthe valve member 32, it moves downward to the open position shown inFIG. 3.

With the valve member 32 in the open position, water passes through thepassage 30 and enters an inlet 64. At the same time, it continues toprovide a pressure through the passage 40 to the back side 62 of thevalve member 32. Water then flows freely to outlets 66 and 68 causingthe filling of water closet 12 to commence. As shown in FIG. 1, a pipe70 connected to the outlet 68 actually causes the refilling of the watercloset while a pipe 72 connected to the outlet 66 passes water to anoverflow pipe 74 to assist in the flushing of the toilet. The valve 18is buoyant and moves back onto its seat on the drain 16 after the waterruns out of the drain l6 and the level in water closet 12 has receded.As the valve 18 reseats, the water from the pipe 70 begins to fill thewater closet 12. The valve 18 stays seated because its buoyant portionis in drain 16 and is not exposed to the water 11.

Referring again to FIG. 2, as the water level rises around the valve toa given level, the water passes through the apertures 54 and 56 into thechamber 50. Air is thereby trapped in the top portion of chamber 50 andwhen the apertures 54 and 56 are closed off by the rising water level,an air pressure is developed in the chamber 50. When this pressurereaches a predetermined value, diaphragm 48 snaps upward. With thismovement ofthe diaphragm 48. the elongated member 46 and pilot valve 44likewise move upward until the pilot valve 44 is seated on the element42. When this occurs, the pressure on the back side 62 ofthe valvemember 32 is relieved thereby allowing the valve member 32 to follow thepilot valve 44 upward and seat the valve surface 36 on seat 38. Anyfluid trapped on the back side 62 of the valve member 32 is eithervented through the guide passage 76 for the elongated member 46 or itleaks back through the clearance between the valve portion 34 and thewall ofthe valve body 28. Thereafter, the flow is cut off to the outlets66 and 68 and the rise in water level ceases, thus preparing the valvemechanism for another operating cycle.

In FIG. 4, another embodiment of my invention is shown and like numeralsare applied to structures similar to those shown in the previousembodiment. The basic difference between the embodiment of FIG. 4 andthe embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3 is in the location of the pilot valve 44and the provision of a cross passage 78 projecting from passage 40 toprovide the force on back side 62 of valve member 32 to cause an openingthereof. This design permits a side-by-side relationship between pilotvalve 44 and valve member 32 which makes my valve less subject tochatter when operated at very high water pressures, As in the previousembodiment, the elongated member 46 engages the actuating diaphragmwhich seals cup-shaped member 52 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

It is seen then that the present invention provides an automatic shutoffvalve for use in maintaining a water level in a water closet or otherliquid level control environment of a type superior to prior artdevices. More specifically, the operation of the pilot valve 44 andvalve member 32 is such that there is full flow to the outlets 66 and 68from the inlet until the water level reaches a very specific desiredlimit. At this point, the diaphragm 48 very quickly shifts the valvefrom an open to a full closed position eliminating the normal noiseassociated with prior art systems as the float-operated ball cock valvesslowly close the space between a valve-operating member and a valveseat. In addition, the structure of my invention lends itself to anall-plastic construction and therefore the deleterious effects of theadverse environment in which the valve operates are essentiallyeliminated. In other words, the corrosion-susceptible copper or brassfittings in valve portions of the prior art are eliminated completely.Furthermore, my valve can be installed in any standard water closet tooperate with standard toilet-flushing equipment. Therefore, my shutoffvalve can be installed in a water closet after some other valvestructure has malfunctioned because its only point of connection to thewater closet is at the mounting pipe. It is also evident that thecup-shaped member 52 and diaphragm 48 may be replaced by a bulbous ordoughnut-type float valve attached to the end of the elongated member 46bringing about the same result in almost as effective a fashion. Statedanother way, the travel of the pilot valve is so slight that if a floatwere attached to the end of the elongated member 46, the pilot valvecould be raised in much the same fashion as in the present invention andwhen the pilot passage 40 is closed off, the valve member 32 would beforced to its seat in order to shut off the incoming water flow. It isunderstood that the operation of such an embodiment would be slightlyslower than the snap action generated in the two embodiments shown inthe present invention, but it would be totally within the skill of oneskilled in the art to provide such an arrangement.

it will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those madeapparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and,since certain changes may be made in the above constructions withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

lclaim:

1. An automatic shutoff valve for maintaining the level of liquid (11)in a toilet flush tank, said valve comprising A, a valve body (10) forpositioning in the flush tank;

B. a passage (30) formed in the valve body, said passage having a fluidinlet and at least one fluid outlet to the tank;

C. a valve member (32) movable in the passage between valve open andvalve closed positions, thereby selectively isolating said inlet andoutlet; and

D. valve-actuating means (48,46,44) including 1. a stationary chamber(50);

2. a flexible diaphragm (48) forming a wall of the chamber;

3. means (46) connecting the diaphragm to the valve body; and

4. an opening (54,56) in the chamber exposed to the liquid in the tankwhereby the rising liquid level in the tank causes liquid to enter thechamber through the opening and exert a positive pressure on thediaphragm, urging the diaphragm to a first position which moves theconnecting means so as to close the valve when the liquid in the tankreaches a selected level, said diaphragm also moving to a secondposition when the liquid level in the tank falls below a desired levelafter the associated toilet is flushed.

2. An automatic shutoff valve according to claim 1 wherein saiddiaphragm responds directly to the pressure ofair trapped above a liquidlevel in said chamber.

3. An automatic shutoff valve according to claim 2 wherein said valvebody, valve member and diaphragm are plastic.

4. An automatic shutoff valve according to claim 3 wherein saidelongated member is a pilot valve.

5. An automatic shutoff valve according to claim 4 wherein saidelongated member is adjustable with respect to said diaphragm so thatthe response time of the valve can be selectively varied.

6. An automatic shutoff valve according to claim 5 wherein said valvemember has a passage (40) in the center thereof through which saidelongated element passes, said passage communicating fluid underpressure to the back side (62) of said valve member to maintain saidvalve member in a valve open position under certain operatingconditions.

7. An automatic shutoff valve according to claim 6 wherein saidelongated member has an enlarged end (44) adapted to seat on the end(42) of said passage to prevent further fluid communication to the backside of said valve member thereby allowing said valve member to shut offfluid to the outlet from the inlet.

8. In a valve assembly for maintaining the level of liquid (11) in atoilet flush tank (12) wherein the flow of liquid into said tank iscontrolled by a valve the improvement comprising means for actuatingsaid valve including a stationary chamber (50) within said tank, saidchamber having A. a flexible diaphragm (48'),

B. means (46) connecting said diaphragm to said valve, and

C. an opening (54,56) in said chamber exposed to said liquid whereby therising of the liquid level in said tank causes liquid to enter saidchamber through said opening and compress the air trapped therein, thusexerting a positive pressure on said diaphragm causing said diaphragm tosnap to a first bistable position thereby moving the connecting means soas to actuate said valve when the liquid in the tank rises to a selectedlevel, said diaphragm also snapping to a second bistable position whenthe liquid level in the tank falls below a desired level after theassociated toilet is flushed.

9. The valve assembly defined in claim 8 wherein the connecting means isadjustable relative to the diaphragm so as to adjust the points at whichthe diaphragm snaps between its two bistable positions in response topressure in the chamber.

1. An automatic shutoff valve for maintaining the level of liquid (11)in a toilet flush tank, said valve comprising A. a valve body (10) forpositioning in the flush tank; B. a passage (30) formed in the valvebody, said passage having a fluid inlet and at least one fluid outlet tothe tank; C. a valve member (32) movable in the passage between valveopen and valve closed positions, thereby selectively isolating saidinlet and outlet; and D. valve-actuating means (48,46,44) including
 1. astationary chamber (50);
 2. a flexible diaphragm (48) forming a wall ofthe chamber;
 3. means (46) connecting the diaphragm to the valve body;and
 4. an opening (54,56) in the chamber exposed to the liquid in thetank whereby the rising liquid level in the tank causes liquid to enterthe chamber through the opening and exert a positive pressure on thediaphragm, urging the diaphragm to a first position which moves theconnecting means so aS to close the valve when the liquid in the tankreaches a selected level, said diaphragm also moving to a secondposition when the liquid level in the tank falls below a desired levelafter the associated toilet is flushed.
 2. a flexible diaphragm (48)forming a wall of the chamber;
 2. An automatic shutoff valve accordingto claim 1 wherein said diaphragm responds directly to the pressure ofair trapped above a liquid level in said chamber.
 3. An automaticshutoff valve according to claim 2 wherein said valve body, valve memberand diaphragm are plastic.
 3. means (46) connecting the diaphragm to thevalve body; and
 4. an opening (54,56) in the chamber exposed to theliquid in the tank whereby the rising liquid level in the tank causesliquid to enter the chamber through the opening and exert a positivepressure on the diaphragm, urging the diaphragm to a first positionwhich moves the connecting means so aS to close the valve when theliquid in the tank reaches a selected level, said diaphragm also movingto a second position when the liquid level in the tank falls below adesired level after the associated toilet is flushed.
 4. An automaticshutoff valve according to claim 3 wherein said elongated member is apilot valve.
 5. An automatic shutoff valve according to claim 4 whereinsaid elongated member is adjustable with respect to said diaphragm sothat the response time of the valve can be selectively varied.
 6. Anautomatic shutoff valve according to claim 5 wherein said valve memberhas a passage (40) in the center thereof through which said elongatedelement passes, said passage communicating fluid under pressure to theback side (62) of said valve member to maintain said valve member in avalve open position under certain operating conditions.
 7. An automaticshutoff valve according to claim 6 wherein said elongated member has anenlarged end (44) adapted to seat on the end (42) of said passage toprevent further fluid communication to the back side of said valvemember thereby allowing said valve member to shut off fluid to theoutlet from the inlet.
 8. In a valve assembly for maintaining the levelof liquid (11) in a toilet flush tank (12) wherein the flow of liquidinto said tank is controlled by a valve (10), the improvement comprisingmeans for actuating said valve including a stationary chamber (50)within said tank, said chamber having A. a flexible diaphragm (48), B.means (46) connecting said diaphragm to said valve, and C. an opening(54,56) in said chamber exposed to said liquid whereby the rising of theliquid level in said tank causes liquid to enter said chamber throughsaid opening and compress the air trapped therein, thus exerting apositive pressure on said diaphragm causing said diaphragm to snap to afirst bistable position thereby moving the connecting means so as toactuate said valve when the liquid in the tank rises to a selectedlevel, said diaphragm also snapping to a second bistable position whenthe liquid level in the tank falls below a desired level after theassociated toilet is flushed.
 9. The valve assembly defined in claim 8wherein the connecting means is adjustable relative to the diaphragm soas to adjust the points at which the diaphragm snaps between its twobistable positions in response to pressure in the chamber.